Mask
by oh-woah
Summary: Sting hid high up in the trees. As he watched Natsu rush to Lucy and hold her in relief, a strong emotion flared in his chest. Sting told himself that he was not jealous. Sting/Lucy/Natsu. Complete.


Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and it's characters do not belong to me. They are Hiro Mashima's. The only thing that belongs to me is the plot.

Summary: Sting hid high up in the trees. As he watched Natsu rush to Lucy and hold her in relief, a strong emotion flared in his chest. Sting told himself that he was not jealous. Sting/Lucy/Natsu. Complete.

Rating: T (for swearing)

Word Count: 2,059

A/N: These recent chapters have probably got most of us hating Sting Eucliffe and Sabertooth for doing that to Lucy, but this idea popped into my head and wouldn't leave me alone. -.-

* * *

_Mask_

_by_

_oh-woah_

* * *

The forest was humid, and damp and sticky - and apprehension clawed at his throat, making it hard for the dragonslayer to breathe. His thoughts ran amuck, and from the corner of his eye, Natsu saw that though Gray were farther behind him, he was no less worried. But the ice-mage's feelings were nothing compared to his. The pink-haired dragonslayer was livid. And if they did not find Lucy soon, he _swore_ that he would tear down the entire area to look for her. Damn the consequences.

It had happened in an instant. One moment, Erza, Lucy and Mia (the girl they were escorting to the town for their mission) were chatting amicably while Natsu and Gray bickered in the back. The next, a loud whooshing sound had occured as some strange man scooped Lucy into his arms and took off into the forest. They had vanished with a surprised yell - Lucy and her captor were only a blur to their eyes. Speed magic. From the looks of it, they were using very high level magic.

"Lucy!" The two males jumped into action and they took off into the forest, leaving Erza behind with their escort, Mia. The girl, who had a scarf wrapped around her head, clutched it tighter against her. "They've found me," she said in a trembling voice, once she recovered from her shock.

Erza, who had been sorely tempted to chase after Natsu and Gray, turned a piercing gaze onto her. "_Who_ has found you?"

"I'm sorry," she whimpered pathetically. "We don't have enough money! My Father didn't have a choice!"

The pieces of the puzzle clicked into Erza's head slowly. This mission was simply to escort this girl, Mia, to her Father three towns away. It seemed simple enough, but Mia had requested a full team to guard her. Erza had her suspicions about it, but she decided that the girl was simply paranoid. Now, that didn't seem like it was the case. And from the way Mia was acting, it was as if she knew that this was bound to happen. Mia had brown eyes. And beneath her headscarf, she had blonde hair. Like Lucy.

The redhead's entire thought process had occured in little more than five seconds. Erza narrowed her eyes. This mission had a lot more going on underneath than it had specified. And if it was what she expected, then the assassins had taken Lucy by mistake.

So this was a higher level mission than was actually stated. The girl and her Father didn't have enough money? That wouldn't have mattered. Erza was sure they would have helped them regardless. The problem was that they had lied, and now things were a mess. Lucy had been taken, having been mistaken as the target. That was another thing that Erza hated. Misinformation. If they had just known that Mia was being targeted seriously, then they would have been more prepared. They wouldn't have been caught so off-guard.

Still, this was no time to brood over what-could've-beens. She needed to take action to help her nakama.

Erza grasped her arm and firmly walked into the forest, much to Mia's distress. She would make sure Mia wasn't harmed or taken, but there was no way that Erza would sit and do nothing while her teammate was in trouble.

* * *

The forest floor passed by quickly before her eyes. Despite that issue, Lucy made it her priority to make herself as much of an inconvenience as possible for the man who had abducted her. Her efforts of struggle were futile however, when only five seconds later they had come to a halting stop, leaving the stellar spirit mage feeling severely disoriented.

She was dropped onto her butt roughly, and rope was wound around her quickly. Lucy realized she was being tied to a tree behind her. Great. A hand darted out to grab her chin. Lucy glared back at the bandit defiantly.

"Blonde, and brown eyes. Seems like we got the right girl, guys. That was easy!" he laughed.

Lucy felt his disgusting grubby hands touching her face, and she felt the urge to spit into his face. So she did.

His reaction was instant. "Nasty bitch!"

A heavy hand swung toward her face, and Lucy prepared herself for the impact, but she could not hold back the pained yell that spilled from her mouth when the pain exploded on her cheek. She slowly turned her head, grinning cheekily. "Ugly asshole."

Her mouthiness earned herself another hard slap. This time, the bandit had used his other hand, which was studded with several rings, and she cried out again, holding back tears. A long cut had opened on her right cheek. It wasn't life-threatening, but blood immediately welled up and dripped down. Lucy hung her head as the man huffed triumphantly. She decided to remain quiet though, as she wiggled her hand around behind her back in an effort to reach her keys. Lucy didn't know why she hadn't thought of them earlier.

She froze when he noticed her movement. "What'cha got there, babe?"

Dammit. She was so close. Lucy unconsciously pressed her back against the tree harder, trying to hide her keys. It didn't work. He manhandled her until she was leaning forward, and he was able to see what she had been messing with. Lucy was hysterical by then, shouting and kicking hard against his leg. The man's companion's looked nervous.

"Hey, Marcus. Shut the chick up, would you? We're going to be found - "

Lucy's voice rose. "_Don't_ touch my _keys_! Stop! No! _HEY! Those are mine! Don't touch them!_"

* * *

In another part of the forest, Sting had been traveling leisurely when he heard her screaming. Usually the dragon-slayer was not the heroic type, but her distressed yells carried over to him. It sounded serious. Despite what others might have said about him, Sting had a conscience. And morals. It would be cruel to leave and ignore the girl's calls. His conscience was telling him to go and help.

With a small sigh, Sting decided that Rogue would be able to wait for him for a little while longer.

When he reached the clearing, Sting ran into several other bandits, but made short work of them. It was pitifully easy to deal with them. After a moment of deliberation, Sting slipped a mask from one of he unconscious bandits and slid it onto his face. He didn't want to go around saving girls and getting some weird hero reputation.

It was strangely silent now. Sting realized with a start that the girl's cries had gone silent.

His heart thrummed in his chest. Was he too late?

That though propelled him forward, into the camp. Sting had already taken one of the goons down before the rest noticed him. Then he glimpsed at the girl who he was saving - and froze.

Lucy. Blonde Lucy. _Blonde Lucy Heartphilia_. The same one who travelled with Natsu!

His moment of pause allowed the bandits to get their bearings and the one with the powerful speed magic came and delivered a right uppercut that snapped his head back.

To minimalize the damage, Sting followed the momentum of the punch and did a back-handspring to create distance between himself and his opponent. It brought him closer to Lucy, and he wondered for one moment if his act of heroism had been in vain. Lucy was deathly pale, and her head lolled to one side. She looked peaceful - if it wasn't for the ropes and the blood dripping down her right cheek, Sting could almost believe she was sleeping peacefully. What if she was already dead?

But then he saw her chest rise and fall in small movements - and he was relieved. She was alive. With the comforting knowledge in his mind, he turned back to his opponent and attacked with a ferocity he didn't know he was capable of.

* * *

A few minutes later, Natsu crashed into a clearing where the smell of Lucy's blood was the strongest.

The place was an utter wreck. Several of the trees were smashed and looked burned. There was still a fire burning, but there was no one here. It was as if everyone had just up and left. It was weird. There was no time for Natsu to question that, however, when he saw Lucy slumped against a tree at the far end of the camp.

The pink-haired dragonslayer dashed to her side, crouching and lightly touching her bleeding cheek. His fists clenched. He was too late. Those bastards had already hurt her, and for some reason they were all gone. Someone had caused them to run away in fear. He didn't know what to make of the situation. Natsu was both grateful and irritated that he hadn't been the person to save his blonde partner.

Then Lucy opened her eyes. "Natsu?"

"Luce!" He was so relieved. He scooped her into a bone-crushing hug, and Lucy winced, but she otherwise smiled. After a look around her, she could only assume that Natsu had taken care of every single bandit.

One of them had casted a spell on her and it sent her into unconsciousness, but not before she saw a masked figure appear to her right and take one of them down. It puzzled her. Why was Natsu wearing a mask? And was his hair blonde - ?

But then she had faded to the blackness. Lucy could only assume that the spell had worn off once the owner had succumbed to unconsciousness himself. Though something told her that it wasn't Natsu who had saved her, she murmured to him, "Thank you."

Lucy looked directly at the tree above her head, and said in a louder voice, "Thank you."

* * *

Sting had jumped into the tree right before Natsu had burst into the clearing.

The blonde had watched the entire scene as the pink-haired man ran right to Lucy's side, touching her face gently. He watched as she awoke slowly to Natsu's presence. He watched as Natsu hugged the stellar spirit mage in relief. He watched her smile and thank him.

A strong feeling flared up in him and settled in his chest.

Sting told himself that he was not jealous.

Not of Natsu, who was taking credit for rescuing her. Who was holding Lucy in his arms. Who was getting her thanks. Sting trembled, and clenched his fists tightly in an effort to remain still. He didn't want to reveal his presence to them. Not really.

He still staring down at them when Sting decided it was time for him to leave. But then Lucy looked up, her captivating brown gaze looking directly at him, and Sting froze like a deer in headlights.

Had he been found out? He was so sure that she was still unconscious when he had been fighting. And he hadn't moved in the time he was in the tree so how...?

"Thank you."

That was it. Sting freaked.

He leapt from the tree above them to the next one, not caring one bit if they saw him. Hastily he made his escape, a clenched fist pressed to his mouth as a hot blush graced his cheeks.

* * *

A/N: It's just some random thought that popped into my head. LOL. c: i don't know about you guys, but I really like this! Please review and tell me what you think!


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